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Averatec AV2575 Review

The Averatec 2575 is a thin and light 12.1" widescreen notebook that packs a dual core AMD processor, DVD burner, and super-bright WXGA screen in an ultra-portable sized package. This notebook aims to offer great entertainment and multimedia performance in a small form factor for road warriors who demand a little more from their notebooks than standard internet browsing or document typing. Read on to see if this notebook lives up to its claims, and see how it compares to other notebooks in the same...

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Our review unit of the Averatec AV2575 has the following configuration:

For a 12" ultraportable notebook the Avertac AV2500 series is somewhat larger than you would expect, more in line with a 13.3" notebook. Some of this size you can see around the screen bezel where there is almost an inch of space on each side of the LCD. On the keyboard side this extra space is used to make a larger keyboard than you would usually see on a 12" notebook.Build quality is excellent, having a very rigid chassis with minimal flex. The screen frame is very strong, although it doesn't keep away all the ripples on the screen when you try to flex it or press on the back of the cover. The screen hinges gave a good amount of tension and usually required the use of two hands to open up the notebook.

The screen latching design was one element that stuck out for me, where it was the simple design that I loved. It is a latchless system that uses magnets and the hinge tension to keep the notebook lid closed. Unlike hinge tension only setups, the magnets keep the lid firmly closed, and give a satisfying click when "latched".

One area that has us concerned with the screen cover is the glossy finish did not hold up as well as we had expected, and scuffed very easily from day-to-day use. If you are looking at purcashing one of these notebooks, I would put thought into a notebook case with a soft interior to keep the screen cover perfectly glossy from day one.

Display

The display is a glossy 12.1" WXGA screen that is advertised as "super-bright". I wouldn't go as far as saying it is ultra bright, as it ranks right on average with other glossy screens we have come across. Colors are bright and vibrant, and the backlight is very even and consistent with minimal backlight leakage. I would rate it pretty well for viewing images or watching movies, although movies might be difficult away from an outletViewing angles of the screen were average, with great horizontal range, but limited vertical range. Tilting the screen forward or back will wash out or invert the colors once you go past the screens 10-15 degree sweet spot.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Unlike many 12" notebooks, the keyboard on the Averatec is far from cramped, and is spaced out like a fullsize keyboard you would find on a 14" or 15" notebook. All of the keys are full-size, with no ultra-slim function or ctrl keys found anywhere. This is a huge plus for many people who can't stand a cramped notebook for extended periods of typing. Keyboard quality is excellent, with great travel and key feedback. When pressed, each key gives off a nice quiet metallic click. Key wobble is minimal, on par with my ThinkPad keyboard.

The touchpad is a Synaptics design model, with great sensitivity and of normal size. Measuring in at 2.46 x 1.76", it is actually larger than the one found on my 15" T60 ThinkPad. Touchpad button feedback is shallow, and gives off a soft click when pressed.

Speakers

Audio performance is average for a notebook of this size, considering the speakers are the size of pennies. For watching movies or music without caring about perfect audio quality or bass they are fine, but I would recommend using headphones for extended listening if you can. The headphone jack on this notebook provided clear and static-free audio, and could output high enough volume to hurt your ears.

Performance

System performance is rated average, running standard applications with ease, but really lacking the performance to play older games with minimal settings. While most notebooks of this size aren't gaming machines by any stretch of the imagination, the ATI integrated graphics didn't perform as well as Intel integrated graphics. Performance in regular tasks, or multimedia content was stellar, as it did not weigh as heaviliy on the graphics chipset. HD Movie content or DVD movies played with ease. Office productivity software loaded without lag, so handling office loads while traveling would not be a problem.

Benchmarks for this system are listed below:

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. Lower scores indicate better performance.